Salaam-e-Ishq – Bollywood new release – story of six couples

Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Salman Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Ayesha Takia, Govinda, Shannon Esra, John Abraham, Vidya Balan, Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Isha Koppikar, Sohail KhanDirector: Nikhil AdvaniProducer: Sunil Manchanda, Mukesh Talreja,Nikhil AdvaniMusic: Shankar-Ehsaan-LoyGenre: Romance/Drama/ComedyRating: ** ½The story of Salaam-e-Ishq is an interesting collage of the lives of six very different couples, all from different walks of life facing love related dilemmas. They either fall in love, fall out of love, want love to happen, or want back their lost love – you name it.

The music is snappy and foot tapping. The title track is very hummable. Adnan Sami’s Dil Kya Kare is extremely melodious and acts as an ideal medium which gives you a brief glimpse of the couples’ lives.The movie is shot well at beautiful locales in India and London

Talking about the story, director Nikhil Advani fairly inter-relates his six varied stories at the climax of the movie but unfortunately doesn’t succeed the way Richard Curtis did it for Love Actually (2003).The movie drags somewhat in the first half; but gains momentum in the second. However the director fails to do justice to his 12 lead characters, with a majority of them, especially the likes of Sohail, Isha, Juhi and Ayesha having no significant role to play.The movie is fun in bits and parts but disappoints overall considering it comes from the same director who gave us Kal Ho Naa Ho

1. “Barso re” – Film: “Guru”; Music Director: A.R. Rahman; Singer: Shreya Ghoshal. The hugely popular song about welcoming rain retains its premier position this week. The film has also hit the screen and is doing pretty well at the box office.

4. “Kabul fiza” – Film: “Kabul express”; Music Director: Raghav Sachar; Singer: Raghav Sachar. A fusion of Indian and western music, the song sung by debutant music director Raghav Sachar has carved a niche for itself and being played repeatedly on all countdown shows.

6. “Chak de phattey” – Film: “Khosla Ka Ghosla”; Music Director: Dhruv Dhalla and Bapi-Tutul; Singer: Kailash Kher. The Punjabi fun song, which is enjoyed by all and sundry, is back to woo music lovers.

7. “Ye zindagi” – Film: “Traffic Signal”; Music Director: Shamir Tandon; Singers: Hariharan and Sangeet Haldipur. The song capturing different nuances of life has entered the chart this week and is likely to move up in the coming weeks.

8. “Toote huey dil se” – Film: Umrao Jaan; Music Director: Anu Malik: Singer: Alka Yagnik. The short track from the period film gives voice to a lover’s melancholy.

9. “Ram milaye jodi” – Film: “Just married”; Music: Pritam; Singer: Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shaan. It is a fun wedding-song and shows signs of staying on charts for a long time.

10. “Tere bin” – Film: “Bas Ek Pal”; Music Director: Mithoon; Singer: Atif Aslam. The love song burst on the scene months ago and listeners are still to tire of it.